


Friends, In Another Time

by Susumu



Series: The Many Adventures Of Kigurumi Kid [2]
Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Gen, Near Death, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23153080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Susumu/pseuds/Susumu
Summary: When K stumbles into a recently-opened time rift, she finds herself in an alternate version of Subcon Forest, and ends up encountering someone she thinks she knows. Will the two learn to work together to get K back home?
Series: The Many Adventures Of Kigurumi Kid [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662427
Kudos: 10





	1. Strange Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of an AHIT AU that is VERY OC-centered, and focuses on two alternate universe hat kids, known as Kigurumi Kid and Cooking Kid. Also, while I try to keep the canon cast as in-character as possible, this work features a very different depiction of Snatcher than I would normally write!

Time pieces. If there was one thing K knew about them, it was that they had strange powers. Breaking them could send you backwards in time, or open up portals to mysterious new areas. However, there was one thing that K wasn't aware of- The existence of multiple timelines other than her own. Though each timeline contained the same people, things could be very different depending on events that did or didn't happen, whether that be the environment or the people in that world.

"Waaah!!" K was just exploring a time rift that had opened up near her ship recently. No matter how often she did it, she never got used to how they looked. She had been too busy looking at the scenery to notice where she was going. She didn't notice that she was going to fall until it happened. The next thing she knew, she had dropped back into Subcon Forest- And right into the home of Snatcher, the one who had tormented her so many times.

Upon hearing the girl scream, Snatcher was so startled he quickly looked up from the book he was reading. He thought this place would be remote enough that no one else could find him, and that definitely didn't sound like one of the Subconites. But if there was one thing he wasn't expecting, it was for such a small person to just appear from nowhere, and one who looked human, no less. Slowly and carefully, so as not to frighten the girl, he put the book down and stood up. His plan to keep from scaring her failed, however, for before he could say anything, she quickly backed herself under the table in the corner.

"I-I was just leaving, I promise!" the girl suddenly exclaimed. "I don't know how I got here, but I'm getting out right now! Just please, no more contracts!"

Contracts? Leaving? What was this girl talking about and why was she acting so afraid of him? "Kid, kid!" he tried to stop the girl before she continued on. "You're acting like you just saw a ghost. I don't even know who you are or what you're talking about."

K gave Snatcher a stare that could make a plushie look threatening. "You know exactly who I am," she huffed. "I'm the kid with the bear hat. And you know exactly what I'm talking about. You've tried to kill me more times than I can count."

Snatcher's face suddenly dropper when he heard the girl say that. "...Kill you...?" he asked so quietly his voice could barely be heard. He had never hurt anyone in his life, despite everything that had happened to him... He could hardly imagine himself killing anyone. Trying to take the girl's mind off things, he gave a weak smile. "Sorry, kid with the bear hat, but I've never seen you in my life. Or un-life. Whatever you want to call... This. Where did you come from and how did you get here, anyway?"

"K. My name is K," K responded. He was making fun of her, she could tell. "And, I don't really know how I got here. I was wandering around in a time rift, then suddenly here I was. And I'm going now. All I have to do is find my ship."

Ah. NOW Snatcher understood what was going on here. "Kid. K," he said. "I get it now. You fell out of a different timeline. This world isn't the one you belong to." The thought of that alone made him shudder. If there was another version of him who DID want to kill this girl... He couldn't exactly blame her for being scared. "A-anyway, you're not going to find your ship around here. What we need to do is get you back to your own timeline."

K shook her head. "Oh, no no," she said. "There is no 'we'. I can get back to my ship just fine, thank you." With that, she tried to get up from under the table... Only to end up hitting her head on it.

Snatcher snorted slightly at the sight of that. It probably wasn't the right thing to do, but he had to get her trust somehow. "Yeah, kid, I don't think that's gonna work out," he remarked. "If that table is an obstacle for you, just imagine what the rest of my forest is going to be like. There's all kinds of vengeful spirits around here. Would hate to see you get yourself possessed or something. And there is that bottomless abyss you could fall into. And of course, the swamp. Wouldn't it be awful if you got dragged down into it?" He then turned away from the girl for effect. "Buuuut if you still want to try finding a way home yourself, I won't stop you."

K's eyes grew wide at the sound of all that. It was true, she wasn't exactly in the mood for dying today. "Um... On the other hand... Traveling alone does get very lonely," she replied, making an excuse for him to go with her. "Maybe I will go with you after all." She carefully stepped out from under the table as she spoke.

Snatcher then turned back to K, his usual smile returning. "Now that's what I like to hear, kid!" he declared, getting much closer to her face than she would have liked. "Time pieces are what got you here, aren't they? Maybe the time pieces can also get you back home. Lucky for you, I just so happen to know where one is! Follow me, kid!"

"K," K corrected him for a second time. This was all another trick, wasn't it? As much as she didn't trust this guy at all, but it seemed she had no choice. Maybe when this is all over she could quickly escape home or something. "And, yeah, that sounds good to me. Let's get going."


	2. The First Time Piece

Snatcher didn't have to lead K very far to find the time piece he had seen. Taking the girl just outside of his house, he pointed up into the sky. Sure enough, through the clouds K could make out the unmistakable glow of a time piece. "See that? Aaaall the way up there? The only thing that could shine that brightly is a time piece, right?"

K could see the light from the time piece, but that was ALL she could see. She couldn't see the time piece at all- Or the top of the tree for that matter. Was he SURE it was up there? "Um, yeah, I see it," she answered. "But how am I supposed to reach that?"

Snatcher shrugged. "Well, don't look at me," he replied. "My arms aren't THAT long. I'm sure there's something you could use to climb up there though."

K stood and looked at the tree for a few more seconds. Though she couldn't see all the way up, she COULD see some branches that looked like they went all the way up, and seemed perfectly positioned for her to climb up. How convenient. This was DEFINITELY a trick, but she had to get that time piece no matter what. "Wait here," she said. "I'll... Just have to go and get it." She then went to go and try to climb up the tree. ...The key word being 'try'. She wasn't even tall enough to reach the first branch.

Snatcher frowned. "Look, kid," he said. "The Subconites go up there all the time. I could send one of them up there to get the thing for you. Would you like that?"

K shook her head. She really didn't trust this guy, and she didn't particularly trust the Subconites either. Of course, she couldn't say that out loud. "No thank you," she declined. "I can get up there myself. It was pretty obvious that she COULDN'T get up there herself, though. She was still struggling to get off the ground.

Okay, this was just getting difficult to watch. "Kid, at least let me help you get up there," Snatcher offered, reaching out a hand to help the girl.

K's reaction, however, was not what he was expecting. Before he could reach K, she took notice of him, and quickly jumped up, grabbing onto the branch. She struggled a bit, but she was soon able to pull herself up onto it. "...Please don't do that," she said softly.

Well, she was part of the way there now, at least. But Snatcher didn't exactly want to keep scaring her into doing it. "Alright, I won't pick you up," he agreed. "Are you SURE you're going to be able to do this on your own?"

K nodded, despite her inner feelings suggesting quite the opposite. "Yes, I can," she huffed. "Just watch me." She then jumped up to the next branch, though she still had some difficulty. With her newly found false confidence, this seemed much easier now!

Or so K thought. She didn't realize how high she was climbing at first, and she made it a good distance up the tree. Once she turned back to talk to Snatcher again, though... She finally saw how high up she was, and she froze in place. She was going to call back to him, but she couldn't get herself to say anything. Snatcher had been watching her this entire time, just to make sure nothing happened to her, and he happened to notice how terrified she looked. "You alright up there, kid?" He called up to her.

K turned around to shout back at him again, but... Looking down from so high up made her a bit dizzy, and spinning around too fast caused her to lose her balance. The next thing she knew, she had stumbled off the branch and was falling. "AAAAAHHH!!"

"Peck, kid!" Snatcher couldn't just stand back and let the kid fall like that. Though he promised he wouldn't pick K up, he quickly made his way over to her, scooping her up into his hands out of midair. "Are you alright? I told you you shouldn't go up there yourself. You could have gotten yourself seriously hurt, or worse."

K struggled to get up for a few seconds, until she was able to sit up, and she found herself sitting in Snatcher's hand. "Um... Yeah, I'm okay," she answered. "But... Why did you catch me? Um... In my world, you would have just let me fall."

Snatcher frowned again, this time much more bitterly than before. He still found it hard to imagine himself acting in such a way. "Whoever this other me is, he sounds like a real-" Never mind. He shouldn't say that in front of the kid. He carefully placed K back on the ground. "Anyway, I'm not just going to let any harm come to someone who isn't able to defend themselves. Just wait here." Once he was certain K would be okay, he then began to make his way up the tree. 

While K didn't appreciate him implying she was weak, she stayed put as Snatcher went up. It took him very little time to go up there and come back, and just like he had said, he came back down with a time piece. "What did I tell you, kid? Here's your time piece, like I promised." He then tossed it to K.

K quickly caught the time piece as it flew towards her. "Uh, thanks," she said, before looking at the time piece closely. "So, uh... How do I get home with this? Do you... Have to hit me with it or something?"

"Slow down a bit, kid," Snatcher stopped her. "One time piece isn't going to be enough. You're going to need two to get you home. Now, don't give me that sad puppy look. That isn't the only time piece I know of around here. But... Well, kid... I'm going to be honest with you. It's not exactly a very pleasant place to be."

K narrowed her eyes at him. NONE of Subcon was pleasant to her. "What do you mean 'not pleasant'? she asked. "And how do you know where all these time pieces are?"

"It's my forest, kid," Snatcher answered. "I know everything that happens around here." As for her other question, well... "...You've probably been there before, kid. It's not really a place I enjoy returning to or talking about. I know you're scared, but I really need you to trust me on this."

This was starting to sound suspicious again. Yes, he'd saved her from falling, but what if that was just to make her feel relaxed? What if he was planning something else? "I don't really have much of a choice here," K stated. "Okay, alright. I'll go with you. But after this I'm going right home."

As much as Snatcher really wanted to help calm this girl down, he really couldn't argue with that. "That's fair," he responded. "Let's go find your time piece so we can get you home. And hopefully, she'd get a bit more relaxed around him. Was the world she came from really all that bad?


	3. Uninvited

As K and Snatcher went further into the forest, the air began to get colder and colder. K was used to cooler temperatures, but there were only two places she had ever been that were this cold, and wherever they were going, Snatcher didn't look very happy about it either. After a bit of walking, K found herself and Snatcher standing on what seemed to be a broken bridge. The ground on the other side was completely covered in snow and what looked like large ice crystals, and the trees over there looked even more dead than the ones where she was standing. "Over there, kid," Snatcher said, pointing K towards the direction of the snowy area. "That's where we're going. There's another time piece somewhere over there, but... Getting it isn't exactly going to be easy."

After a few moments of silence, K's eyes suddenly widened. She recognized this place! And the only person that lived over there was... "No, no, I can't!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. "I knew it! This HAS to be a trick!"

A strangely bitter look crossed Snatcher's face. "Look, kid, I'm even less happy about this than you are, believe it or not," he replied. "But you really have to get back to your own time, don't you? Surely someone there will notice you're missing." He waited for K to answer, but spoke once again when she was silent for several moments. "I'm right, aren't I?" With that, he picked her up and quickly carried her over the broken bridge, seeming to jump the gap with one quick motion. "Now come on. We'd better do this fast. I don't think I need to tell you why."

Once K was on the other side, she dropped herself out of Snatcher's hands and to the ground. "Um... Thanks for that?" she said. "But I can walk the rest of the way, thank you."

Snatcher simply shrugged. "Fair enough," he answered, as the two made their way towards their destination: The old manor hidden away in the furthest corner of Subcon Forest. K was uncomfortable going to a scary abandoned place as it was, but the worst part is that this place wasn't actually abandoned, and both of them knew this. This was the home of Queen Vanessa. While K didn't know much about her, she had been terrorized by her in the past- All at the hands of Snatcher, of course. Snatcher, on the other hand? He knew this woman all too well- And he hoped that K never found out about the two of them, or about what she was willing to do just to be with him again.

As the two made their way up to the manor, though, K seemed to be struggling in the snow. Snatcher wanted to help her out some, but the girl had clearly stated before that she didn't want him picking her up, and the last thing he wanted was for her to think he didn't care what she felt. "Kid... Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

K turned her head to face him. Her expression didn't show it, but this cold was making her miserable. "I-I'm fine," was the only thing she said. It was pretty clear that she wasn't fine, though. But after all this, and what felt like years of walking, the two found themselves standing right in front of the old manor.

K then looked up at Snatcher. "Um... So what's our plan?" she asked. "How do we get in there without... Her finding us?"

Snatcher then turned to face K. His expression was difficult for her to read. "I know a way he can get in through the back," he explained. "We won't have to go through... THERE again at all." Before they went forward, though he suddenly got very close to her face. His voice got much more serious. "Now, I need to to listen to me very carefully, kid. Once we get inside, there's something I need you to do. DON'T. MAKE. ANY. NOISE. Stay as quiet as you possibly can. If you need to say something, whisper it. Is that absolutely clear?"

K nodded. As much as Snatcher terrified her, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with Vanessa as well. The only real difference was that Vanessa didn't torment her constantly. "Right, right. Let's get this over with."

Snatcher led K around to the back of the house. Snatcher stopped and pointed out what seemed to be a large sheet of wood. "That's it, kid. That's how we get it," he said, before moving the sheet of wood to reveal a large hole in the wall. That was it. There was no door or anything. Just a hole. He could tell by K's expression that she wasn't pleased with this. "Don't worry, kid. You're not going to get all scratched up or anything if you go through. There's only one thing around here that can hurt you badly."

His words weren't exactly reassuring to K, but it was for the sake of her time piece. Since she was so small, she was able to fit through the hole with no trouble at all, but it was exceedingly dark inside. "Are you going to be able to get in here?" she asked Snatcher, now trying to keep her voice down.

"Trust me, kiddo, this is nothing. Just watch." Though Snatcher seemed far too big to fit into the hole, he was able to get himself through with seemingly very little trouble. "I don't really have much of a physical form, kid. Now, let's do this quickly. We don't know how close SHE might be."

How could Snatcher even see anything in here? It was way too dark for K's eyes! Even so, she held her arms out in front of her, in hopes it would make stumbling through the darkness even a bit easier. She could hear something shuffling around overhead, but she tried not to think about what it could be. Snatcher was doing his best to keep a close eye on the kid. He could just glide over anything that could be in his path, but her? If she tripped it would make a LOT of noise. It wasn't easy, though. Actually, it took a lot less time than he expected for him to lose sight of her. "Kid!" he said in the loudest whisper he felt was safe. "Stay close to me! Come back here!"

Bad idea. The sound of Snatcher's voice alone seemed to be enough to frighten K. Suddenly, he heard a loud thumping noise coming from a direction he couldn't place, followed by a scream and then another, louder thump. Peck! She tripped over something, didn't she? Before he could pick her up and get her out of there, though, the shuffling upstairs could be heard again, but this time much louder. A shrill, aggressive-sounding woman's voice suddenly called out from above- A voice the two were hoping they wouldn't hear. "WHO'S THERE?!"

"Peck, kid, we've got to get out of here!" Snatcher called out, trying to look for where K had gone, just by the sound of her scrabbling around on the floor. He had totally given up on trying to be quiet. She already knew they were here anyway. Suddenly, though, the shuffling upstairs turned into a loud banging, and it sounded like it was coming downstairs. No, why was she coming down here? She must have recognized his voice!

K suddenly felt something lift her off the ground by her arms. She didn't like what she saw when she looked up at all. Whatever was holding her was some sort of shadowy figure, much too tall to be a normal human. The figure seemed to have no facial features at all, aside from what K thought was a pair of glowing red eyes. Despite the figure still holding K up, they seemed to pay no attention to her at first. Instead, they spoke directly to... Snatcher? "You've come back to me, my prince." They attempted to put on a sweet tone to their voice, but K just found that even more terrifying. "I have been... Greatly awaiting the moment I would see you again, you know."

Well, Snatcher certainly couldn't say the same about HER. Actually, she was far more terrifying than he remembered, even to him. And this child had come into contact with her once before? Was HE the one who did that? "...I don't want any trouble with you, Vanessa," He finally spoke, though he was visibly shaking. "Or anything from you, for that matter."

K suddenly found herself lifted further into the air, coming nearly face to face with Vanessa. "And just who is this- Lovely child?" she asked. All the sweetness had gone from her voice for a second before coming back. It was slowly starting to fade away as she continued, however. "You... Never told me you had a child, my dear. Or did you... Find her somewhere?" She seemed to be very bothered by the thought of this.

"Wha-?!" What was she saying? She thought K was... What would even make her think THAT? "She's not my kid, Vanessa," he finally answered. "She's not even involved with either of us, and she's not the one you want. Just leave the girl out of this." Of course, he had no intention of sticking around here for long. He was only saying all this in the hopes he could get them both out of this situation without any harm coming to K.

Vanessa's obvious fury was becoming more and more obvious by the second. "You're rather... FOND of this one then, are you?" She continued, trying to keep her composure. "Well, no matter. I... SUPPOSE we could... Find a place for her here, if you so wish." As much as she didn't want to say this, she only said she wanted to keep K here so she could keep Snatcher here. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she knew exactly what would happen to K if she stayed here. In her eyes, any sort of "unfortunate fate" befalling K would just mean one less obstacle between her and her prince.

It was bad enough that Vanessa never wanted to let Snatcher escape this place, but for some reason, he also hated the idea of K being trapped here. He didn't even know why, he barely knew her. Perhaps it was because she was a child, and one who was still alive, but the thought of that made him angry. "There IS no place for her here, Vanessa!" Snatcher suddenly began shouting. "You know as well as I do that she'll die if she stays here! You know this and still you're willing to let an innocent person die to get what you want? You caused quite enough suffering all those years ago!"

The room got deadly silent for several moments. Vanessa was enraged at this point. Eventually, though, she started to give some sort of response. It started quiet at first, but she slowly started to break into maniacal laughter. K found herself dragged closer to Vanessa's face again, and the air started to get much colder than it already was- Or maybe it was K who was getting colder. Vanessa finally spoke once more, this time to K. "You will never come between me and my prince again."

And that was when Snatcher stepped in. K would have been frozen solid in a matter of seconds if he hadn't done something. "Vanessa!" he shouted again, before turning away from the two and lowering his voice. "If you bring any more harm to that child... I will leave this place and never look back."

As soon as she heard him say that, Vanessa let out a gasp, and dropped K to the floor, not because she wanted to, but out of pure shock. How could he DO that to her? While she was trying to think of something to say in response, Snatcher scooped K up from the ground and dashed off as fast as he could. Vanessa didn't realize this at first, and only started chasing after him once he had almost gotten K outside. "Wait! M-my prince!" Snatcher had no intention of waiting for her, however. In fact, he was already out and moving the piece of wood from before over the hole. When Vanessa reached the hole, however, it was already blocked off, leaving her to claw frantically at the wood covering it.

Snatcher wasn't thinking about her anymore right now, though. He had to make sure K was going to be okay. He had to get her out of her as fast as possible. Once Snatcher felt the two were a safe enough distance away from the manor, he took a moment to check on K. From the looks of things, she want still alive and didn't look injured, but she seemed too frightened to register what was happening. She was shaking quite a lot, though it wasn't clear if that was out of terror or due to how cold she was. While there wasn't really a "safe" place to go anywhere in Subcon, he could only think of one place to take the girl.

He quickly carried K back over to where his home was. Once the two arrived there, he carefully placed K into his chair and checked on her one last time. She was still shivering, but now she had her eyes closed, and it was hard to tell if she was awake or not. Either way, he couldn't just leave her like this. He turned over to the closet behind him, and pulled out a large blanket he kept in there, which he then draped over the girl. He didn't need it himself, but he was saving it for just a cast such as this. He didn't want this child, or anyone else, to suffer the same way he did. The blanket was rather old and worn out, but he hoped it would keep her warm. He had done all that he could for her right now, and there wasn't much else he could do but wait and see how she reacted. He curled himself up on the floor, prepared to keep and eye on K for however long it took for her to wake up. Would this be enough?


	4. A New Face

Snatcher knew he shouldn't be leaving K alone in her current state, but he was also the only one who could do this. He didn't want K to have to deal with that woman again, and he'd asked a few Subconites to watch her while he was away. While she was sleeping, he took it upon himself to retrieve the time piece from Vanessa's manor, and move it to a location near Subcon Village, just to make things a bit easier on K. Once that was done he made his way back to his home quickly, and made sure to check on the girl once more. K was just fine when he left, it even seemed like she was sleeping, but had her condition changed any? 

Not long after he returned, though, the pile of blankets began to move once again. The movements were small at first, but soon K sat up quickly. She had no idea where she was or what had happened. "Waaah!" She woke up with a scream, kicking all the blankets away.

Out of impulse, Snatcher picked up the girl to comfort her as soon as he heard her scream. "Kid, kid, it's alright," he said softly. "It's over now. You hear me? It's all over now."

Being picked up by Snatcher was bad enough, but hearing those words weren't exactly comforting. "What?!" She demanded. "What does that mean?!"

Okay, that wasn't the best idea. He carefully put her back down in the chair. "I meant you're safe now, kid," he explained. "Trust me, you weren't the only one who thought you weren't going to make it. It's a good thing I got you back here so quickly."

K's expression changed from terror to confusion. He was... Worried about her? "You saved me?" She asked. "Um... But why?" She was genuinely curious, but she didn't mean to ask in such a way.

A strange look crossed Snatcher's face. "Listen, kid, I don't want you to ever find out what that woman is really like," he explained. "Or the kind of things she did in the past. Let's just say you're not the first poor soul she's attempted to murder, and I'm willing to bet you're not going to be the last. I couldn't just stand back and let her hurt someone again."

This only confused K even more. He couldn't have been evil if he was trying to save her from dying, right? But how could she trust him? "But if you're not a big scary evil guy, then how come everyone still calls you Snatcher?"

Snatcher shrugged. "It's something the Subconites came up with, kid," he answered. "They like to pretend I'm some sort of figure of impending terror, I guess. And who am I to stop them from having fun?"

"And what about the Subconites?" K continued asking. "They still exist in this world. You told me they do. And I saw them."

"I couldn't just leave their souls wandering forever," Snatcher explained. "Giving them new bodies was all I could do for them, really. Yeah, it's not really the best way to live, but it's better than being a detached soul for all eternity. Of course, there were a few I... Couldn't exactly help, but..." He didn't want to say why, but he knew it was because they were afraid of him, and he hated that fact. It wasn't his fault he was like this.

K stopped to think about that for a moment. Maybe she really could let her guard down around him. Not only did he at least try to save all the Subconites' souls, but he saved her from Vanessa and was willing to help her find her time pieces- "My time piece!" K suddenly exclaimed. "Where is it? Did you get it back?"

Snatcher's usual smile returned. "Don't you worry about that, kiddo," he replied. "I got your time piece out of THAT place, and I've put it somewhere nice and safe for you when you woke up. Just follow me."

K was a bit annoyed by this. Why couldn't he have just brought her the time piece? Well, whatever. She hopped out of the chair without a word and followed Snatcher. He led her much further than she was expecting- All the way to the most isolated 'house' in Subcon Village. "Here it is, kid," Snatcher finally said, pushing the door open. "Sorry I didn't just bring the thing to you." Truthfully, he didn't want to just bring her the time piece. He wanted to see the delighted look on her face when he showed it to her.

K's reaction wasn't what he expected to see, however. Rather than a look of joy, her face changed to one of horror as she tried to muffle a scream. Wait, what? Why was she so afraid? Snatcher looked inside the house himself to see what K was looking at. The time piece... Was gone?! Instead, the house was entirely empty, aside from what looked like the blade of a knife, shining under the light from the moon.

Internally, K was starting to panic. Was this a trick? Some kind of cruel threat? She knew it! He'd led her here so he could kill her! He was only trying to gain her trust so he could betray her again! She was starting to feel sick and tears were forming in her eyes. Without another word, she turned around and ran, as fast as she could, trying to get as far from Snatcher and Subcon Village as possible.

"Kid, wait!" Snatcher called after her, turning around to go after her. Peck! The kid was completely gone now! She would never get home if he couldn't find her! Before going to look for her himself, he carefully picked up a nearby Subconite to speak to them. "Look for that kid with the bear hat," he instructed. "If you see her, don't chase her off. Come find me immediately. And tell the others about this too." He carefully placed the Subconite on the ground and watched them run off, before going after K himself.

K, meanwhile, had no idea how far she had run by now. She was beginning to slow down, however. After a moment, she stopped entirely, and slumped down on the ground. She couldn't stop herself from crying now. She was never getting home. She would never see her friends or her family again.

When she was preparing to accept her fate and give up entirely, though, a strange voice called out to her: "Dear child, why are you crying?"

"...H-huh...?" K picked her head up and looked around. Who... Said that? Something started to appear in front of her. She thought it was a person, but... He had blue skin and a red coat, and he didn't look like he had any legs... Were those chains on his wrists? K curled herself up further, before squeaking out "Who are you?"

"You may call me the Moonjumper, dear child," the man introduced himself with a flourish. "These eyes of mine see everything that happens within Subcon Forest..." His face suddenly turned sympathetic. "And they have seen your struggles, dear child. You're quite far from home, aren't you?"

K put her head down. "Um, yeah," she answered. "I got taken from my world and put into this one. I don't have enough time pieces to go back."

The man patted K on the head before speaking again. "Fear not, dear child," he responded. "For I have something that may help you." He then produced a time piece from seemingly nowhere, and handed it over to K.

K's eyes widened and she quickly took the time piece, looking it over carefully. It was authentic! "Wha- Where did you find this?" she asked.

A strange smile crossed the Moonjumper's face."I have my ways, dear child," he answered. "And... I think I can help you even further. I saw how that horrible spirit mistreated you. How he nearly killed and betrayed you. He is an awful, awful man, dear child. Truth be told, I have despised him for many years, and I've seen how frightened you are of him. But there's no need to be frightened of me, dear child. In fact, if you'll just come with me for a moment, I know where you can find LOTS more of those time pieces you're searching for."

K stood up, slowly and carefully. She was still a bit uncertain about this guy, but if he really wanted to help her, she wasn't going to turn that down. "O-okay," she responded. "I'll trust you. Take me to them, please."

"Very good," the Moonjumper said with a nod. "Just over this way, dear child. I promise, you'll see your home before too much longer."

So this was happening now. Snatcher was long gone from K's mind now. The only thing she could think about was going home. If only she had run into this Moonjumper guy sooner. If only she had never stepped into that time rift in the first place. If only...

If only she had trusted her instincts.


	5. Betrayal And Confrontation

"Kid! Peck, kid, it's dangerous out here!"

Snatcher felt like he had been looking for K for ages now. She hadn't gone back to Snatcher's house. She wasn't hiding in the swamp or the well. He knew for a fact she wasn't back at Vanessa's. He hadn't gotten any word back from the Subconites either. She couldn't be out of Subcon already... Could she?

Well, if she had, Snatcher had no other choice. For the first time in centuries, he'd have to leave the forest of his own accord. When he tried to charge through the trees, though, he suddenly found himself... Getting tangled up in something? Tree branches didn't tangle like this. Where did all these red strings come from? ...Wait a minute, red strings? The only person who could create those was... Peck! If HE ended up finding the kid, she'd be in serious danger! Snatcher had to find where she went, and fast!

Meanwhile, Moonjumper was busy leading K up to the highest place in Subcon. The place where this whole adventure had started- The top of Snatcher's home. K was terrified by the height and the decreasing temperature, but she was certain Moonjumper wouldn't let any harm come to her. However, she did find this a bit odd. Why were they going back here? "Um, Mr. Moonjumper?" she asked softly. "How come we're going back up here? Snatcher already got this time piece."

"He didn't tell you the whole truth, dear child," Moonjumper answered. "There's actually many more time pieces hidden up here. He simply didn't mention them to you."

Of course he didn't. Why wasn't that surprising to K at all? She knew now that she had to keep following Moonjumper, no matter how frightened she was. The two continued to climb, until they finally reached the huge glowing mushroom at the top of the tree. K didn't see any time pieces yet, though. Maybe they were at the top? Moonjumper helped K get to the top of the mushroom, but there still weren't any time pieces up there. What was going on here? "Mr. Moonjumper! You said there would be time pieces up here," she said. "Where are they?"

Moonjumper kept his back turned to K for several seconds, before turning back to her. His warm, friendly smile from before now replaced with a sinister grin. "Dear child, you really do trust too easily."

K gave a strange, confused smile. What was he saying that for? She tried to approach him, but found herself unable to move her legs- Or her arms for that matter. What was going on? She looked at herself for a second, only to find that she was tangled up in what seemed to be a large bundle of red strings. Her smile changed from a confused one to a terrified one. "Mr. Moonjumper? What's going on?" Was he the one doing this? "You weren't lying to me about all of that, were you?"

"Not all of it," Moonjumper answered her. "When I said that I despise Snatcher... That much was true. And you may not realize it, but he's taken quite a liking to you. That is why I cannot allow you to leave this place alive. Your soul belongs to me now, child."

K managed to stumble backward slightly. What, was he going to kill her or something? She had been tricked again, but it wasn't by Snatcher this time! She had no idea how to feel or what to say. When Moonjumper attempted to approach her, though, she shouted, as loudly as she could. "Get away from me! You... You're a liar!"

Moonjumper gave her a look of annoyance. "And you're quite the noisy one, aren't you?" he remarked. "No matter. I'm perfectly capable of silencing you myself." As he spoke, another set of strings appeared between his hands, these much shorter than the ones K was tangled up in. "Permanently, that is."

Before Moonjumper could get any closer to K, though, the two heard a voice that was strangely familiar to both of them. "If you get any closer to her, I'll toss you off this thing myself." Standing right across from them, on the other side of the mushroom... Was Snatcher! Great. K was going to die anyway. Was he going to get involved too?

Moonjumper's smile only grew wider at this, however. "Ah, Snatcher, so good of you to join us," he said. "Actually, I was hoping I would see you tonight. Taking this child's soul will be much more rewarding now. How do you feel knowing you can't save her?"

Snatcher began to look genuinely angry at that question. "Just let the kid go, Moonjumper," he growled. "She isn't even involved with either of us. Why are you doing this anyway?"

"Spite, mostly," Moonjumper answered nonchalantly. "It can be an excellent motivator, you know. But no, I'm not doing this because of her. You've grown quite fond of this child, I see. And what better way to exact my revenge by destroying your last bit of true happiness?"

"Revenge?" Snatcher asked. "Moonjumper, what the peck are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know, Snatcher," Moonjumper said disdainfully. "You abandoned me all those years ago. Left me behind with that horrid woman, in that rotten basement. Left me alone to suffer until I finally got myself free. You wouldn't allow me to be happy, so why should I allow you to?"

Snatcher seemed more angry at this. "ABANDONED you?!" he demanded. "You wanted us to STAY there! We were suffering BECAUSEof her, Moonjumper! Leaving was the only thing that WOULD have saved us! Now, if you want to make it out of here in one piece, just put the kid down."

A strangely smug look appeared on Moonjumper's face. "Very well, then," he said. "If you want it so badly..." He then walked over to K and picked her up by her hat. She let out a startled and frightened cry, but she couldn't get away from him. He then walked over to the edge of the mushroom and dangled K over it. " I don't imagine this child is able to fly. A fall from this height would be enough to kill her, wouldn't it? Which is more important to you, Snatcher? Our past or this child's life?"

In an outburst of anger, Snatcher suddenly found himself charging at Moonjumper. As he approached, however, Moonjumper quickly turned around and tossed K off of the mushroom. "AAAAAHHH!!"

K's scream snapped Snatcher out of his rage. Peck! He couldn't think about Moonjumper now, the kid was in danger! He dove off the side of the mushroom and after K, scooping her up out of the air and holding onto her as carefully as he could. "Hold on, kid!" He said to the shaking, frightened girl as he carried her back up to the mushroom. "I've got you, I've got you. It's okay."

Once the two reached the top, Snatcher looked around to see if he could see any sign of Moonjumper, but he was nowhere to be found. "Peck! Looks like he got away," he mumbled to himself before carefully placing K on the mushroom. "You okay, kid? Hold still for a second." He then quickly and carefully used his claws to cut through the strings K was tangled in. This only caused K to scream and stumble over backwards, but she could move again! Snatcher stayed quiet and looked at the girl for a moment, waiting to see how she'd respond.

So much was going through K's mind right now. Moonjumper had been lying to her after all! He'd almost ended up killing her! And the one who saved her... Was Snatcher? He chose to let her live instead of just leaving her to die! Without a word, K simply started sobbing and began clinging to Snatcher. "You- You saved me again- But why- I thought-"

Snatcher carefully lifted the girl up. "You don't have to say a word, kid," he said softly. "Actually, it's mw who owes you an explanation. But we shouldn't do it up here, it's not safe for you. Let me at least take you back down from here first."

K was crying too hard to answer properly, and simply nodded in response. Snatcher then carefully carried her back down to the ground, making sure to keep her head turned towards him. He didn't think she needed to see the ground coming right at her again right now. He had every intention of explaining things to her, but not right now. He had to get her somewhere she could calm down first.


	6. Home Again

Some time had passed since K's encounter with Moonjumper. Snatcher had brought her back to his home, and she was now sitting in his chair once more, wrapped in that same blanket, now drinking a cup of hot tea. She didn't even question where Snatcher had gotten it, as she felt it was better not to. Snatcher had left for a moment to give her some time alone, and he was just now getting back. "Hey, kid. How are you feeling?"

"Bad," was K's response. Yeah, she wasn't hurt physically, but she was still shaken up and she just wanted to go home. She had two time pieces, but now what was she supposed to do with them?

Snatcher looked around nervously. "Listen, kid," he began. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions after what just happened, so feel free to ask anything you want."

Well, K mostly wanted to know how to get home, of course. But even so, there was one thing she wanted to know about. She might never get the chance to ask about this again. "Who WAS that guy?" she asked. "That guy who tried to trick me, I mean."

Peck. He had a feeling she'd ask that. "That was the Moonjumper," he explained. "He and I... We have a lot of history together. We were the same person once, you know. Basically... Well, if you didn't know, souls can be separated from their bodies, like what the Subconites once were. I'm the soul and he's the body, is the easiest way to say it. Vanessa and I were together at one point, but... Well, that was before she revealed her TRUE colors. Would you believe he actually wanted to stay in that moldy old manor? But I couldn't stand it there, so I took off. Can't believe he's still mad about that." A look of disdain crossed his face. "And I can't believe you had to find all this out through him."

K took a moment to think about things. Is that why Vanessa was calling Snatcher her "prince"? Did that sort of thing ALWAYS happen when a soul separated from a body? "But what about that knife in Subcon Village?" she asked. "Where did that come from?"

Snatcher shrugged. "Kid, I honestly don't know," he answered. "You can find that kind of stuff all over Subcon. I have a pretty hard time keeping the Subconites away from it."

Snatcher didn't put the knife there? That means Moonjumper must have done it! He was trying to trick K into thinking Snatcher was planning to kill her! "I'm sorry, Mr. Snatcher," K sniffled, looking as though she was about to cry. "I shouldn't have believed him. I-I'm so stupid."

Snatcher was quick to comfort the girl. "Hey, hey, don't say that, kid. Not knowing something doesn't make you stupid. Trust me, I... Wish I had known that a long time ago." He stayed quiet for a minute, before he thought of something that might cheer her up. "Hey, kid. I think I can show you how to go home now. Still got those two time pieces?"

Oh, right! Her time pieces! K got out of the chair and took them out of her pockets. Good, they were still in one piece. "Right here!"

"Very good," Snatcher said, his smile returning. "Now, another kid with a hat taught me all about how these things work, so I can tell you how to get yourself back home. All you've got to do is smash those two time pieces together, as hard as you can. Something about the energies of the world they came from aligning to form a new time rift or something."

K didn't understand all this about aligning energies, but if it would get her home she would do it. She held the time pieces apart at arm's length, then did exactly what she was told... Only for the time pieces to softly bump into each other with a gentle 'clink'. She tried again, with the same result, before looking at Snatcher with a frustrated expression. "Well, don't blame me. I'm not that strong."

"Uh... Alright," Snatcher said. "Let me help you with that." K handed over the time pieces, and Snatcher attempted to break them as he had explained. There was a strange noise and a flash of light, and suddenly a small, swirling portal-like object appeared in front of him. K took a look inside the time rift's swirls. She could see the inside of her ship!

"Um... Wow, that worked," she remarked, and prepared to step into the time rift. Before she did, though, she had one more thing to say to Snatcher. "Hey, um, Snatcher?" she said. "...Thank you. Not just for helping me get home, but... For saving my life so many times." She carefully stepped closer to him, and gave his arm a gentle hug.

Snatcher was surprised by this at first, given how little K trusted him when they first met, but then he smiled at her and gave her a pat on the head. "Kid, you've got a lot of life ahead of you," he replied. "Nothing should take that away from you. And hey. If you ever find your way back to this timeline, come and find me, okay? I'll keep you safe from all the nasty stuff here."

K nodded, and then she let go of Snatcher's arm, waving at him before she stepped through the portal. It was time to go home, and she wanted all the events of today to be far behind her. Even so, she couldn't help but hope she'd see this version of Snatcher again... And hopefully she did have a friend in some version of Subcon after all.


	7. Extra Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This chapter is a bit of a bonus alternate scene for chapter 5. It's not necessary to read unless you really want to!

K gave a strange, confused smile. What was he saying that for? She tried to approach him, but found herself unable to move her legs- Or her arms for that matter. What was going on? She looked at herself for a second, only to find that she was tangled up in what seemed to be a large bundle of red strings. Her smile changed from a confused one to a terrified one. "Mr. Moonjumper? What's going on?" Was he the one doing this? "You weren't lying to me about all of that, were you?"

"Not all of it," Moonjumper answered her. "When I said that I despise Snatcher... That much was true. And you may not realize it, but he's taken quite a liking to you. That is why I cannot allow you to leave this place alive. Your soul belongs to me now, child."

K managed to stumble backward slightly. What, was he going to kill her or something? She had been tricked again, but it wasn't by Snatcher this time! She had no idea how to feel or what to say. When Moonjumper attempted to approach her, though, she shouted, as loudly as she could. "Get away from me! You... You're a liar!"

Moonjumper gave her a look of annoyance. "And you're quite the noisy one, aren't you?" he remarked. "No matter. I'm perfectly capable of silencing you myself." As he spoke, another set of strings appeared between his hands, these much shorter than the ones K was tangled up in. "Permanently, that is."

Before Moonjumper could get any closer to K, though, the two heard a voice that was strangely familiar to both of them. "If you get any closer to her, I'll toss you off this thing myself." Standing right across from them, on the other side of the mushroom... Was Snatcher! Great. K was going to die anyway. Was he going to get involved too?

Moonjumper's smile only grew wider at this, however. "Ah, Snatcher, so good of you to join us," he said. "Actually, I was hoping I would see you tonight. Taking this child's soul will be much more rewarding now. How do you feel knowing you can't save her?"

Snatcher glared at Moonjumper, but chose to ignore him, instead quickly pushing right past him to get to K. He quickly picked her up and spoke to her. "You alright, K?" was the first thing he asked. "Hang on just a second, and try not to move." He put her down and quickly used his claws to cut through the threads that K was tangled up in, but this only caused her to scream and stumble backwards once more. She could move again! Once she seemed to have calmed down slightly, Snatcher picked her up again. Much to his relief, she didn't seem to be harmed.

"...Snatcher!" Was the first thing K said, looking up at him. "You... Came to save me?" Well, it SEEMED to be true. He had just freed her from those strings and he wasn't trying to hurt her now. "Um... But why?"

Snatcher wasn't looking at K, though. He was still glaring at Moonjumper. "We can talk about it later, kid," he answered, trying to hide the bitterness in his voice while talking to her. "It's better if you just stay away from HIM over there. Don't even know how he managed to find you."

Moonjumper, meanwhile, had been watching this whole scene play out. "Well, then. How... Sweet," he remarked. He stayed silent for several seconds, until he began to get an idea- A terrible, evil idea. It would have been just awful if something were to ruin this heartfelt moment, wouldn't it? He began to create more strings between his hands, as a wide, wicked smile began to form on his face. These strings, however, were different from the ones before. They gave off an ominous red glow, and seemed to extend from his hand when he raised it up- And directly towards K.

At first, K didn't realize anything was going on. She was focusing more on Snatcher than on Moonjumper. She didn't notice what was going on until she felt something on her wrists- And then felt herself pulled backwards and lifted into the air. "Aaah!" It was then that she noticed the strings around her wrists, holding her up in the air. Her feet weren't able to touch the ground, but she still tried to kick herself away from this. It wasn't long before the strings wrapped themselves around her ankles as well. It was starting to get harder to get away, and she was feeling like she could faint at any second. There was only one thing she could do now: Scream as loud as she could. "Snatcher! Help me!"

Snatcher knew exactly what was going on, just by the strings and the look on Moonjumper's face alone. "You can't be serious, Moonjumper," he spat bitterly. "Turning an innocent child into another one of your puppets? That's a new low even for you."

Moonjumper's face turned serious. "Your words hurt me, Snatcher," he replied, attempting to put a fake pitiful tone to his voice. "I should have known you better than this, really. I was just planning to kill this girl and leave you to find what was left. But, of course, you had to show up and interfere with my plans. So why not settle for the next best thing? If there's one thing I do know about you, it's that you've got quite an explosive temper. If I just throw this child at you, you'd feel the need to defend yourself, wouldn't you? And by doing so... You would eventually kill her yourself."

What?! THAT had been his plan all along?! Before Snatcher could even say anything, though, K was beginning to move again. Only this time, she wasn't herself. The expression on her face changed from blank and empty to strange and somewhat frightening. Without saying a word, she took out her umbrella and prepared to swing it at Snatcher. Actually, he couldn't even say K was doing these things anymore. Moonjumper was the one controlling her actions now, not her. Peck, what was he going to do about this? K then began to swing her umbrella at him. "Wha-?!" Snatcher jumped up to avoid the swing. "H-hey, kid! Just hang in there! I'll get you out of this- Just stop trying to hit me!"

K didn't respond, however, and simply swung at him again. Okay, so talking to her wasn't going to work. Well, he had cut the strings off of her before. Maybe he could do it again? The next time K swung the umbrella, Snatcher grabbed it, quickly pulling it away from her. She wasn't very strong, so that part was easy, however he also ended up knocking her over in the process. While she was down, he leaped around behind her, slashing at the strings holding her with his claws.

Moonjumper pulled his hand back in pain as the strings disappeared in a puff of red smoke. The strange, terrifying look disappeared from K's face, changing to one of sheer terror. She was herself again! Snatcher picked her up off the ground, and handed her umbrella back to her. "You alright, kid?"

K was silent for several seconds. Snatcher was very concerned about this, until she suddenly let out a scream. She had no idea what happened to her. All she knew was that it was terrifying. "Wh- What was that?! What happened to me?! A-am I... Am I okay now?"

Snatcher carefully lifted the girl up. "You're alright now, kid," he said softly. "I got you out of... Whatever that was Moonjumper did to you. And you don't have to say a word. Actually, it's me who owes you an explanation. But we shouldn't do it up here, it's not safe for you. Let me at least take you back down from here first." He scanned around the area quickly while K wasn't looking. Peck. Looks like Moonjumper must have gotten away while he was taking care of K. If he ever came near her again, Snatcher would make him regret it. He promised himself that.

K was crying too hard to answer properly, and simply nodded in response. Snatcher then carefully carried her back down to the ground, making sure to keep her head turned towards him. He didn't think she needed to see the ground coming right at her again right now. He had every intention of explaining things to her, but not right now. He had to get her somewhere she could calm down first.


End file.
